Entry bubble Government and Social Media

By: Joanne | October 28, 2008 | Category: General

connectLast week the Social Media Club of Washington kindly invited me to join a panel presentation on social media in government. It was a great opportunity for me to talk to the group about how USA.gov is exploring social media to connect with the public and to deliver government information and services in this powerful new way.

I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback about the government using social media, and when I was with the Social Media Club it was really energizing to see the level of interest the social media community has in government using social media tools.

That’s why we’re stepping up to the next level. Government agencies are using social media tools like blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter to reach out and give you information. USA.gov is working on a strategy to use social media tools to better engage in conversation with the public and to deliver information and services the way you want to get it. Do you like to get your information from the printed page, hold that publication in your hands? Do you like to talk to us on the phone? Or are you into blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and the like?

Help us form our strategy by telling us what you like – fill out this quick (about 5 minute) survey.

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Entry bubble Your Wish is My Blog Topic

By: Joanne | May 13, 2008 | Category: General

hand holding a sign that says, sock it to meIt’s a special day—mark your calendar. What’s so special about it? Today the federal government isn’t telling you what to do and how to do it, but instead is asking what interests you and what you’d like us to do.

Take a moment to pinch yourself so you can be sure you’re not dreaming. I’ll wait.

Here’s the thing. We’ve got this blog and a team of bloggers, and we want our work to benefit you. Give us your ideas of how you’d like us to use this blog to provide you with information, services or a place to express your opinions—we’re ready to experiment.

We’re really impressed with how the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has used their blog to engage their readers. The Transportation Security Administration is the agency that’s in charge of airport security, among other things. The public has been really vocal on the TSA blog, and TSA is getting ideas and feedback about airport security operations that they’ve been able to use to make changes and improve service.

I can’t promise that we can implement your every suggestion. There’s nothing I can do about having to remove your shoes at the airport—believe me, I wish there was! I can promise that we read all of your ideas and use them to guide us in our blogging. We can also share your ideas with other federal government bloggers and web managers.

| View Comments [26] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: 2.0   blog   conversation   government   innovation   joanne   topics   web